Lil Tjay is opening up about one of the most traumatic experiences of his life, reflecting on what it was like waking up from a coma after surviving a near-fatal shooting in 2022.
During a recent appearance on Mornings With Mero on Hot 97, the Bronx rapper recalled the confusion and shock he felt after regaining consciousness in the hospital following the incident.
“I just remember waking up,” Tjay shared. “It was a doctor or nurse named Lauren. She walked in and was like, ‘Oh, he’s up.’”
The rapper explained that the experience felt surreal and nothing like he imagined.
“She told me, ‘You didn’t look so good last week,’” he continued. “And I’m like, ‘Last week?’”
Tjay admitted he had no sense of how much time had passed or even a clear understanding of what had happened to him.
“It didn’t feel like nothing,” he said. “I didn’t even know what happened. I didn’t even know where I was at.”
Lil Tjay was shot multiple times during a 2022 incident in Edgewater and later underwent emergency surgery. At the time, updates about his condition sparked major concern throughout the hip-hop community, with artists and fans showing support as he recovered.
Now reflecting on the ordeal, Tjay admitted the experience completely shifted his outlook on life and forced him to face his own vulnerability in a way he never had before.
“I never thought I’d get shot,” he said while speaking about the outro track Do What I Can from his latest album They Just Ain’t You. “I just thought I could do whatever I want.”
The near-death experience, Lil Tjay explained, completely destroyed the sense of invincibility he once believed he had.
“The fact that I took any type of L or anything even happened to me that I didn’t plan, I was just like, ‘Oh shit, I could be just like anybody else,’” he shared.
Tjay went on to say that surviving the shooting and going through the recovery process changed the way he approaches both life and music, making him far more intentional about his decisions moving forward.
